TripAdvisor’s coverage of Russia gets some mixed reviews

English-speakers who want to research travel in Russia have mixed feelings about the TripAdvisor’s coverage of the country. Source: Shutterstock / Legion Media

Reviews on Russian cities and businesses are growing on TripAdvisor, but users say they miss reviews from locals about out-of-the-way places.

The travel
Web site TripAdvisor launched in Russia just over two years ago, but
already it has more than 1.5 million visitors per month. TripAdvisor spokesman Angus
Struthers is proud of the site’s success.

“The site seems to resonate with
Russian travelers as they come to research their holidays or business trips.
There are more than 12,000 Russian businesses on TripAdvisor,” Struthers
said. He added that the site’s philosophy is the same no matter in which
country it operates — “to help travelers plan and have the perfect trip.”

TripAdvisor’s
strength has always been its huge number of reviews: More than 75 million travelers
have given opinions about more than 1.6 million businesses worldwide, and the
number continues
to grow.

“We are the world’s largest travel Web site, and the sheer
volume of reviews on TripAdvisor allows travelers to get the complete picture
of a business, and make an
educated decision based on the opinions of many, before they book their trip,” said Struthers.

But while
the numbers show that the Web site is growing in popularity among Russian
travelers, English-speakers
who want to research travel in Russia
have mixed feelings about the site’s coverage of
the country.

Mireille Rochard, a native of France who lived for several years in Moscow, has used TripAdvisor to research everything from
restaurants in Paris to hotels in Morocco. She praises
the site’s speed and comprehensive coverage. “Out of 43 feedback reviews, you
can form your
own idea of the product,” Rochard said.

Looking for information about St. Petersburg, TripAdvisor
reviews led her to the Antique Rachmaninov Hotel: “Location, comfort and price
were most important, and the TripAdvisor recommendations were great,” she said.
“We stayed there three times!”

St. Petersburg,
which appeared in the site’s Travelers’ Choice awards section in both 2011 and 2012
as one of Europe’s best destinations, may be
the exception that proves the rule. Visitors to other Russian cities have found
coverage lacking.

21 million foreigners visited Russia in the first 9 months of 2012, according to Rostourism.

75 million travelers have given opinions on TripAdvisor of about 1.6 million businesses.

1.5 million people visit TripAdvisor Russia to research travel each month.

Darren Carlaw, editor of Stepaway Magazine, an online journal
of stories and poems about urban exploration, used TripAdvisor to research
restaurants when he visited Moscow
for the first time in 2010. He found that it always seemed “to lead to the same
old suggestions, which are more about avoiding Russian cuisine than exploring
it.”

Carlaw described TripAdvisor’s coverage of Russia as having “a different feel”
compared with other countries.

“In terms of restaurant reviews, TripAdvisor —
for Moscow and St. Petersburg certainly — seems to fall into
two categories: recommendations by diners
who have enjoyed a Disneyfied version of Russian cuisine, and the recommendations
of those who are trying to avoid Russian cuisine at all costs,” Carlaw said.

He
complained that TripAdvisor led him to Moscow’s
Cafe Pushkin where he ended up “eating dull, overpriced food with tourists.” He
suggested one reason for the site’s failure in this area.

“Useful discussions of Moscow dining options take
place online in Russian," he said. "Few Muscovites appear to post on
TripAdvisor in English, commenting on their own city — and why should they? And
so, we are often presented with an outsider’s view … as with most cities, the
best results come from talking to
locals.”

Karen
Percy, a journalist from Adelaide, Australia, who is currently living in Russia,
recently used
TripAdvisor to research trips to Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan. She found it an interesting experiment
in how erratic the Russian coverage still is.

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“Nizhny Novgorod
had better quality feedback
and more establishments seemed to have reviews, with lot of pictures, addresses
and Web sites,”
Percy said.

“In researching Kazan,
there were many sights listed but very limited information. [Reviews were]
contradictory, not helpful or nonexistent, [with an emphasis] on expensive,
high end, Moscowstyle restaurants or low-end eateries and not much in the
middle," Persy added. "I suspect
it might take TripAdvisor quite some time to build up a solid base of reliable information
in Russia.”

Percy noted that only limited numbers of foreign tourists go beyond the
big cities while local travelers might not have enough experience for a
critical review. She is
among the growing number of travelers in Russia to add her feedback to the
Web site’s database.

Struthers
said that Russia
is a very important market for TripAdvisor. “As we
continue focus on it, we expect we’ll see more businesses and reviews added in
many areas of
the country,” he said.